


Don't Try to Find Me

by WarlordFelwinter



Series: Destiny / OC-centric [3]
Category: Destiny (Video Game)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-30
Updated: 2017-11-30
Packaged: 2019-02-08 22:26:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 791
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12874335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WarlordFelwinter/pseuds/WarlordFelwinter
Summary: Delphi makes a decision





	Don't Try to Find Me

**Author's Note:**

> Athena likes to experiment with "shells" and more often than not doesn't wear the traditional Ghost shape. She particularly likes being a cat.

“Delphi, I’d like to talk to you about something.”

“Of course.” A glance upward to show he was listening, before his gaze returned to the page.

“I have been considering this for a while,” the Speaker said, carefully. “I would like to make you my apprentice.”

Delphi looked up fully at that, confused and startled. The Warlock had been his assistant for some time now, doing various field research projects for him and compiling notes. It had begun as a way for the Speaker to keep an eye on the Vex hybrid, to ensure he wasn’t a danger, but he had proven himself an eager student and powerful wielder of the Light.

“Aren’t I… already?” Delphi asked uncertainly.

“Not entirely. You help me, certainly, and I’m sure I have taught you more than you would have learned otherwise. You would become more of a student. I would teach you things about this universe that are known to very few. What I am asking you, to be concise, is to be my successor.”

Delphi's eyes went wide and he dropped his pen.

“You may need some time to consider my offer. Take as long as you need.”

 

* * *

 

“The City’s beautiful at this time, isn’t it?”

Delphi blinked and focused on Athena. “I hadn’t noticed,” he murmured, returning his gaze out the window to the glowing streets far below.

“What’s on your mind?”

“You should know.”

“Sometimes talking aloud can help you think.”

Delphi sighed and laid down on his back on the bed, watching the patterns the candlelight painted on the ceiling.

“It’s not right,” he said.

“What?”

“The Speaker. He can’t… I mean he can’t want  _me_  to be the next Speaker right?”

“He seems to.”

“But I’m not…”

“Not what?”

“Not good enough,” Delphi muttered, closing his eyes. The darkness behind his eyes was filled with flashes of broken memory. He opened them again, annoyed. “I shouldn’t even be a Guardian,” he said to the ceiling. “He  _knows_  that. He knows what’s inside me.”

Athena stood on his chest, looking down at him critically. “I think he knows better than you what’s inside.”

“Why did you pick me?” Delphi asked. “What drew you to a heap of failed Vex experimentation?”

“I don’t know,” Athena said. “I just felt it. I don’t regret it. Do you think I made a mistake? Saving you from that eternal torment? Do you wish I had left your consciousness to float in the Vex mind? Left your body to rot in the deep recesses below the Ishtar Academy?”

“Of course not,” the Warlock said. “But I’m not… meant for this place.”

“When the Speaker first took you on, you had begged him not to tell Ikora about the gate he saw you make. You said they would make you leave. You said this was your home.”

“Don’t… use my words against me,” Delphi said, frowning at her.

“I’m not. I’m reminding you of them.”

“This is my home. But it’s not. I don’t belong here. It is a home in that I live here. In that I don’t know anywhere else. But I know I  _did_. Do you understand? I can’t remember anything from before this. Who was that man whose body you found on Venus? What did he do? The Vex stole an entire life from me. I want it back.”

“We can find it,” Athena said. “I don’t see what this has to do with the Speaker, though.”

“Everything. I can’t be… him. I can’t be the one everyone comes to for reassurance and advice. I can’t make people trust me if I don’t even trust myself. He can’t give me power over  _anyone_ when I don’t know what darkness is waiting inside me.”

“I trust you. The Speaker trusts you. Isn’t that enough?”

“No.”

She leapt down, dematerializing before she hit the floor.  _What now?_

Delphi sat up, looking around his room. He took a deep breath and got up, walking over to the desk. “We go back to Venus.” He grabbed a loose sheet of paper and a pen.

_What will you tell the Speaker?_

“Nothing.”

_Delphi…_

“I can’t…” He faltered, closing his eyes briefly. “I just… can’t face him.”

He wrote a note. Short. He didn’t bother to explain anything. There was nothing he could put into words. He couldn’t explain how he felt. He knew the Speaker would only try to convince him otherwise, as Athena had. He knew he wasn’t good enough for this, any of it. He couldn’t be trusted to protect or guide anyone until he knew who he was. Perhaps he could find answers on Venus. Perhaps someday he could return to the Tower and feel like he could call it home.

But not today.


End file.
